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The Lykeion
The Lykeion, otherwise known as the Great Library of Phaeselis, is a library collection of dozens of books. The Lykeion, or in our language Lyceum, was established by a rich lieutenant (re: Cavalier) in Alexander's Companions, and has grown to include hundreds of books written and inscribed on various media and styles. The collection is impressive, having had grown over the last one hundred years. Unlike the Great Library of Alexandria, the Lykeion is not a college of study. What follows is a library made with the rules stated in Encyclopaedia Arcane: Tomes and Libraries -- the Secret of the Written Word by A. Bott and published by Mongoose Publishing. Sections of the Lykeion Alchemy the Section of the "Art of Khem" details treatise on Chymistry and chymical works. Most are general works (1-6 on a d10) and a few are definitive works (1-2 on a d10) and two go into subjects that are theoretical for the Chymical Discipline. This section contains 100 books, 50 are collections of scrolls while 45 are in codex form. The last five are collections of diagrams on clay tablets. ''Various Works'' Realms of Altered Consciousness by Lysander of Promachos (Psychonautic Definitive Work) Bound in dinosaur skin, saddle stitched into Codex form, with an illuminated cover of three clouds of different colors; the first edition of this work was written by Lysander of Promachos, who was a drug user of Cannabis as well as a prolific psionic seer and Alchemist. He wrote down his journeys into states of Altered Consciousness and was rumored to journey the world, even to the fabled land of Hesperidea to try what the natives called Ayahuasca -- a plant concoction that produced altered states of consciousness. He wrote down his journeys in this opus of nine volumes, the last three of which contains the recipes and the directions to brew potions that created these altered states of consciousness along with the formulae for the extract forms of augury, clairaudience/clairvoyance, detect scrying, scrying, and speak with dead. His students took the treatise seriously and result was the creation of the Psychonaut tradition of Alchemy. His students also had his book lovingly copied and diseminated to other libraries of note, including the Great Library. Later editions was bound in tough hide leather, copied on paper, and written as a codex. A first edition, however, is prized by Psychonauts everywhere since it contains the first six volumes of his journeys into the other realms. A Psychonaut studying the definitive work can prepare a specific dream extract, a lesser astral projection ''astract, or a ''plane shift extract to reach a specific plane. Also, meditating on the words of the works while taking Ayahuasca will allow the Psychonaut to contact other plane per the spell in an extended vision, contacting either Nirvana or the Seven Heavens. He may receive the answer to one question, which may come to him in an extended vision. A Beastmorph's Bestiary by Unknown (Beastmorph Catalogue) This book is bound in Green crocodile skin and contains an illuminated creature on it, either the Sirrush of earlier editions, or a Lycanthrope of later copies. No one knows who wrote this, the style is in the style of one Panprius of Rhodes, but no one can be sure. The book is a catalogue of various beasts a beastmorph alchemist can seek the forms of. The forms include creatures from the mundane leopard to the fanciful Jabberwock. The writer has not written a scientific treatise, but a moralistic one. To a layman, it seems to be a beastiary, but the whole book is written in code, requiring a Linguistics check (at DC 27) to decipher the formulae for the mutagens to acquire the characteristics of all the beasts thus far codified. The library has two copies. One for the general public, and the other locked in a vault containing dangerous books. The first is warded against copying through various methods (it's been encrypted further with an encryption spell cast upon it). And the last requires special permission to view in the Reading Room. The Primal Essences by Cespios of Lycia (Definitive Work) This book is bound in Rawhide and contains representations of the Four Elements: Earth, Water, Wind, and Fire; in a circle; with a fifth element -- Aether -- in the middle. Written by Cespios, he was the first Alchemist to experiment with the Primal Essences -- which contained the quintessence of all four elements and a fifth -- Aether. Through experimentation, he found that they could be used to enhance mutagenic properties in one way or another. Unfortunately, he couldn't complete his work on writing down any recipes dealing with them. He died tragically, and now his legacy lives on in the definitive work, but its no magnum opus like the Realms of Altered Consciousness. Ancient History This section deals with various histories of the Old Empires, and all books are copies. Some are distilled and Annotated, such as the Seputagent and the Roll of Pharoahs. Others are collected historical encyclopaedias including the Histories of the Ariyan Kings and the History of the Halicarnoi. ''Some of the work are songs and epic poems, including the ''Epic of Hippolyta and the Epic of Theondithras -- the Dragonborn National Epic. A special subsection devoted to genealogy contains the family histories of dozens of Phoenicians, and the Annals of the Speakers for the Dead which contain a partial collection of the eulogies of the Dragonborn. Any book consulted on Ancient History grants the historian a +2 to +10 research bonus to his History Check on a certain subject, depending on the quality of the writing. Arcane Magic While small in a city devoted to Psions, the library is no less extensive. Contained in the library are various books on Arcane Magic and various magical theories on each of the schools of arcane magic and divine magic. Also contained are the Spellbooks of Arcanos and the Spellbooks of Brevyre; the two wizards' libraries that the government of Phaeselis thought were worth preserving after their deaths. Notable Works Metaphysics of the Arcane, by Aristarchus of Alexandria and Aristocles of Rhodes (Definitive Work -- Spellcraft, Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (The Planes)) A scientific treatise by Aristarchus of the Peripetic School; Metaphysics builds to create a workable theory on Arcane Magic. Although Aristarchus was no wizard, he has seen enough arcane magic to try to work up a workable theory on how it worked. His collaborator was the notorious Aristocles of Rhodes (no relation to Plato). Aristocles was a wizard who wrote many collectable volumes of lewd romantic poetry for men to woo their young eromenos paramours. Despite being a pederast, Aristocles collaborated with Aristarchus to work on a workable theory of Arcane Magic. The results is a two volume set on what Aristarchus calls Metaphysical Engineering. ''The ideas put forth is that all things are in vibration and vibrates at certain frequencies. ''Spells are created when the wizard alters the vibration through his will by collapsing the wave function in his favor. After a time, reality reasserts itself -- causing most spells to loose their power. Ironically, the reason why certain Secret Societies haven't stolen the work is because the Psionic community keeps copying it and donates the copy to the library when ever it is pilfered. This is because the work contains valuable secrets of Psicraft and Knowledge (Psionics) -- the theory works for Psionics as it does Arcane Magic. The entire book is written in Hellenic and copies are made in Draconic and other languages and written in a way anyone can understand. Not to be outdone, these certain Secret Societies have edited the work and desseminated copies of poor quality. They don't want the competition (the masses of the poor) to use the knowledge contained therein to become as rich as they. So the edited volumes contain enough secrets for the common peasant to attain a little success but not unlimited success. The plan has worked out better than they hoped, actually. The result was enough bastardization of the theory to convince a majority of wizards that they fire off a spell and forget it once it was fired off. Nevertheless, it's the definitive work on Arcane Magic that will impact the Wizardly profession for many, many years. Anyone reading the original work will suddenly realize that they can retain knowledge of their spells after they learn it and can fire off the spell as much as they want to, in as much as they have the strength of mind (reading the original edition actually alters the Wizard's magic system from Vancian to the Spellpoint system in Unearthed Arcana for D&D 3.5, published by Wizards of the Coast -- or to the Dynamic Spellcasting System in Advanced d20 Magic published by the defunct Guardians of Order -- GM's choice). Because the work has been stolen by Secret Societies, however, the Librarians have put it in the vault for safekeeping. To see the work requires special permission and a battery of Divinatory spells to make sure that the reader isn't a member of these certain Secret Societies. The book offers a +10 circumstancial bonus to the three skills above when consulted. The Spellbooks of Arcanos (Arcane Spell Library, written in Hellenic) Arcanos of Lycia was a successful wizard that has collected a number of wizard spells over the years. The collected volumes contain a large number of spells from levels 1 through 7. However, recently, two of his spellbooks have gone missing. The librarians are offering a reward to anyone who can recover them. Of course, his most powerful spellbooks are in the Vault. The Spellbooks of Brevyre (Arcane Spell Library, written in Draconic) Brevyre of Zadracarta was a successful invoker who collected a number of wizard spells, primarily from the school of Evocation. The collected volumes contain a large number of spells from levels 1 through 7. Her most powerful spellbooks are in the Vault, however. Art This section contains various works of art. In short, its a small art gallery. Paintings and sculpture grace this room, and it also contains a few mosiacs, frescoes, and friezes. The paintings are mostly of landscapes, still lives, and nudes. Sculptures are mostly of nudes or animals. There are a few sculptures of satyrs, and one of a hermaphrodite. There are one hundred and thirty pieces of art contained in this section. Biography Besides the Annals of the Speakers for the Dead, this section contains entertaining biographies of people who lived. The library contains the biographies of many people, including heroes and royals. There are two biographies on wizards, and five on notable psions. Alexander is one such person who has his life recorded in a Biography, and so is Brevyre of Zadracarta (one of the wizards). These are specialized knowledge, helping with Knowledge (Royalty and Nobility) checks or Knowledge (Persons of Note) checks -- each book offering a +2 to +10 circumstantial bonus to these skill checks, based on the quality of the biographer. Additional biographies are up to the DM. Combat This section contains various martial arts, including systems of unarmed combat used by monks, and systems of weapon combat used by fighters. This is a general section containing about sixty volumes. You can't improve your martial art just by reading, however, but through practice and study with a coach. The volumes are divided into two sections: Armed Fighting Styles ''and ''Unarmed Fighting Styles. Crafts Various artes and crafts (not including Alchemy, which is it's own section) are contained in this general section. Including works on working with crystals. The books all provide +2 to +10 circumstantial bonuses on various crafts regarding a particular craft skill, and there are seventy books in this section. Demonology This section is in an intentionally forgotten section of the library. It's of some use to summoners and of use to Wizards -- specially those specializing in Infernal Binding. The section has been left to nature, so there is a lot of dust, some cobwebs, and books that are falling apart. Largely a Keep Out sign keeps out the curious. The demonology section contains books on various demons. Notable works The Intercostal Clavicle of Noxorios the Mad (Demonic Reference Work) This work contains the true names of over thirty demons and devils from the Nine Hells and the Abyss. It's a short scroll written on silk in the language of the Phoenicians. It contains a number of familiar spirits as well as the definitive work on various demons and copies are coveted by witches, warlocks, and infernal binders everywhere. Unfortunately for the reader, the names are encoded in flowery prose and the reader must need to beat a knowledge (arcana) DC of 15 to understand them, further more, deciphering is needed using a knowledge (the planes) check at DC 20. Despite this, the demons and devils so named are unhappy that copies of this work exists. Therefore, manipulated by the demons to some extent, those of the powers of good and evil attempt to destroy copies of the Intercostal Clavicle where ever they maybe found. Which is one of the reasons why it's hiding in a section of the Lykeion that is gone to nature. As a result of the zealousness of both powers, copies of the Intercostal Clavicle are very rare and hard find -- as it contains a catalogue of demonic sigils and names. Each given demon type has 1d8 instances of a greater name and 1d3 instances of a true name. This enables the Infernal Binder to risk summoning something that is far above his true ability to control. Unfortunately, demonologists have been summoning these creatures for a long time, and the demons are quite tired of it. They are much more furious if summoned from the terrible comforts of the abyss or hell than other demons usually are. So the summoner has to battle against the fury of enforced service, this gives a -2 to the control check has been summoned. The demons, however, are a little more lenient to the Demoniac. Other demons, however, are crafty and will lead the summoner into a false sense of security until they strike. Category:Phaeselis Category:Living in Phaeselis